This is my answer to the deep freeze we are in as well as the financial crisis-the globes’ and mine: I bought a french oven. I had the salesperson to myself. I think she was salivating actually. A real live customer has that effect these days.

It was so delicious I nearly fainted. The smell of the house was divine which truth be told is one of the reasons I enjoy cooking. I did my usual screw up a few of the recipe things but this time nothing was noticeable and nothing flew out of the oven on its own and skidded across the floor out into the hallway.

Sometimes my kitchen is possessed with the same spirits that inhabit and destabilize the economy.

So far, my pot is a bright orb in a dark winter.

Sort of like the inauguration. When I feel the cold and the dark closing in, I just say but. But, there’s January 20th at 12:00 PM.

My cousin, Mary, said to me two days ago, after I joked (really, I WAS joking) about buying those Obama “collector” plates they are hawking on TV, “You know, cousin, you are a Catholic after all.”

Since I am well known to her as a non-believer, I asked why.

“Because you believe in a Savior, after all.”

Ouch. I thought about protesting but just conceded the point.

She is right as ridiculous as it sounds. Belief is based on need, I can testify to that right now. Say, allelulia.

I think a Pot Roast and a new photo series leading up to the inauguration is needed to fully appreciate the flavors of belief. The Pot Roast is today. The series starts tomorrow.